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Earlier this summer, I traveled to the border with a group from All Saints Catholic Newman Center. We went to Agua Prieta, Mexico to see some of the work being done for deported immigrants. But perhaps even more interesting was Café Justo coffee roaster located in that city.

Café Justo is a coffee grower cooperative based in Salvador-Urbina, Chiapas (in southern Mexico). They sell their coffee at churches in the United States or online. When it was founded thanks to a loan from Frontera de Cristo, a joint effort of the Presbyterian churches of Mexico and the United States, the idea was to cut out the middle man so that the coffee growers could use profits to build infrastructure. It’s working. The cooperative now enlists the help of 40 family and, according to Catholic Relief Services (which supports Café Justo through grants), they have been successful in stemming the tide of migration. More coffee growers are able to stay in their hometowns because they are getting paid a fair wage.

A full story about Café Justo is in the upcoming issue of The Catholic Sun. Also, for more on the work being done to help deported immigrants, here’s some links to previous stories:

• Going home: Mexican Catholics minister to migrants on the border (July 19, 2007)
• A new frontier: Religious orders plan joint effort on the border (Aug. 21, 2008)
• Jesuits seek deeper understanding of immigration in bi-national border project (Jan. 22, 2009)